In the Fall semester of 2015, the FIU Department of Architecture sent twenty-three students to study in Genoa, Italy as part of the Architecture in Genoa Study Abroad Program. The class was almost evenly split between 4th- and 5th-year graduate students who traveled abroad to gain first-hand experience of important architectural projects and to develop an advanced design proposal in a radically different urban context.
For the first time in the program's history, the department had one of their own faculty members in residence for the entire semester to teach courses and lead study trips to various cities in Italy, France, and Switzerland. Senior Instructor Eric Peterson travelled with the students to Rome, Florence, Milan, Como, Turin, Pisa, Lucca, Lyon, and Basel to visit iconic architectural sites, including projects by Alberti, Michelangelo, Bernini, Boromini, Terragni, Le Corbusier, Zumthor, Piano, MVRDV, Herzog and de Meuron, Calatrava, and Rem Koolhaas.
“It was a fantastic opportunity for the students to see both historic and contemporary projects by some of the most influential architects in history,” said Peterson. “These are projects they have studied in text books - to see them first hand is a tremendous experience.”
In addition to teaching a seminar course that focused on architectural precedent, Peterson attended an Italian language class with the students, coordinated a course on twentieth-century Italian art and architecture, and taught a vertical design studio.
Chair of FIU Architecture Jason Chandler visited at midterm to review the students' work and to lead the study trip to Milan and Como.
“I am excited that we have FIU faculty teaching in Genoa,” said Chandler. “It helps to foster a greater sense of connection between what the students learn in Italy and the work that they do here in Miami.”
In Fall 2016, a new class of architecture students will travel to Genoa, and the teaching model will be further enhanced with additional visits by FIU faculty members, who will lead workshops and study trips while pursuing research opportunities in the region.
This article was written by Senior Instructor Eric Peterson.
Follow FIU Architecture on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
View full entryOn Tuesday, January 19th, FIU Interior Architecture students in Graduate Design Studio 2 visited the Facebook offices in Miami.Graduate Design Studio 2 seeks to deepen student thinking in several different areas of the design process. These include application and synthesis of... View full entry
Spring Symposium, Vol. 4: Research in Architecture, this Friday at 2PM! View full entry
Fifteen FIU Architecture students in Visiting Professor Neil Leach's Space Fictions seminar and design studio recently visited NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.The students were given a special guided tour by Jack J. Fox, the Surface Systems Office in the... View full entry
From January 20th to 24th, the Spring 2016 Master Project Thesis class taught by Visiting Assistant Professor Henry Rueda visited Mexico City to see architectural landmarks and historic locations.Students arrived in Mexico City on the 20th. They first visited the studio of TALLER DE ARQUITECTURA... View full entry
On January 18th, 2016, Next City published an article called "Will U.S. Cities Design Their Way Out of the Affordable Housing Crisis?" The article, written by Amanda Kolson Hurley, highlights the efforts of both Andrew Frey and Jason Chandler (Chair of FIU Architecture) in helping to solve the... View full entry
FIU Interior Architecture alumna Diana Farmer-Gonzalez '96 (BS Interior Design; Principal & Managing Director, Gensler) will be receiving the Distinguished Alumni Torch Award at the 15th Annual Torch Awards on Saturday, March 19th. Diana Farmer-Gonzalez is a Principal and Managing Director... View full entry
On Tuesday, February 16th, Nicole Levine (SapientNitro) and Sasha Kobrynich (SapientNitro) presented to students in Professional Office Practice - taught by Senior Instructor Katie Rothfield - about "Branding Yourself" and making yourself appealing and marketable as a designer in the... View full entry
The 3rd Annual Eco Couture Recycling Fashion Show happens on March 31st at 7PM!RSVP/Get tickets here: http://bit.ly/1WE3pQm View full entry
Get ready! The 3rd Annual Eco Couture Recycling Fashion Show happens on March 31st at 7PM!RSVP/Get tickets here: http://bit.ly/1WE3pQm View full entry
Through support from the Cejas Family Foundation, preeminent urban designer, landscape architect, artist, educator, entrepreneur and writer Professor James Richards (Fellow of ASLA) visited FIU Landscape Architecture and Environmental and Urban Design for a two-day-long urban sketching and... View full entry
On Wednesday, February 3rd, FIU LAEUD graduate students Shaylin Castillo, Karen Chu-Metz, and Dominic Mack were invited to present their project, “reTHINK | reIMAGINE Urban Infrastructure + Public Space” to theTransportation Aesthetics Review Committee of the Metropolitan Planning... View full entry
Students in the FIU Department of Architecture visited Savannah during the weekend of February 5th to 7th. Students from Graduate Design 6 and Formative Studio were joined on the trip by Team Leader Jason Chandler (Chair and Associate Professor), Henry Rueda (Visiting Assistant Professor), and... View full entry
Harvey Bernstein, a CCE Tenured Professor at Pratt Institute in New York, is teaching Furniture Design and Graduate Design 4 studio in the FIU Department of Interior Architecture.Bernstein’s motto for this course is, “Don’t become tools of your beautiful tools!” Through Furniture Design... View full entry
Kemo Duddle received a Master of Interior Architecture in 2014 from Florida International University, graduating magna cum laude. Duddle is an Adjunct Faculty member at the FIU Department of Interior Architecture and has taught classes such as Art in Public Interiors, which focuses on how... View full entry
On Tuesday, January 19th, students in FIU Interior Architecture’s Cruise Ship and Super Yacht certificate program visited the Ferretti Group in Fort Lauderdale for the first time. Students were able to tour the Ferretti Group offices, as well as some of the yachts in the covered, in-water... View full entry
FIU Architecture Visiting Professor Neil Leach has been elected to the Academia Europaea, Europe’s most distinguished scholarly academy that boasts over 50 Nobel laureates among its members. Professor Leach is one of only two architects to have been elected to the academy.The Academia Europaea... View full entry
On Saturday, February 6th, the FIU College of Architecture + The Arts | Miami Beach Urban Studios hosted Body Architecture: 3D Print Revolution, the second volume of the Spring 2016 symposium series.The 3D printing revolution is transforming the discipline of architecture. Not only are... View full entry
The Miami Center for Architecture & Design (MCAD) has opened The Radical HIVE, a new exhibition co-led and -curated by FIU Architecture’s Eric Goldemberg (Associate Professor) and Marilys Nepomechie (Professor, IDP Coordinator, FIU CARTA Associate Dean of Strategic Initiatives).The... View full entry
On Monday, January 25th, FIU Architecture student Veronica Jaile won the Thinking Local Award at the D.eco: 2015 Sustainability Competition.Jaile submitted her project “For the Love of Wynwood,” which aims to bring recycling awareness to and start a sustainability movement in local Wynwood... View full entry
Mariateresa Campolongo – a PhD candidate in Architecture and Design within the Design Navale e Nautico curriculum at the University of Genoa – is sharing her expertise with FIU Interior Architecture students in the Cruise Ship and Super Yacht Certificate program.Campolongo was born in Turin... View full entry
On Tuesday, January 19th, students in Professional Office Practice (IND 5508), taught by Senior Instructor Katie Rothfield, sat in on the first PROsession of the Spring 2016 semester.The January 19th, PROsession #1, titled “Advocacy: The Legalities of Interior Design” featured guest... View full entry
The new FIU I-CAVE, which opened on Friday, January 29th, is displaying a full immersion experience of Shakespeare's London c. 1598.This event at the I-CAVE is part of FIU programming scheduled around the Folger Shakespeare Library's national traveling exhibition First Folio! The Book that Gave... View full entry
Instructor Malik Benjamin submitted two projects on behalf of IoCI that are now finalists in the Knight Cities Challenge.The Knight Cities Challenge seeks new ideas from innovators who will take hold of the future of our cities. The challenge is designed to help spur civic innovation at the... View full entry
The work of FIU Architecture students Daniel Rodriguez and Sergio Rodriguez appeared in Br Magazine, which is a publication based in Ecuador that informs readers about the four main elements of the property industry: architecture, construction, decoration, and property projects.The students'... View full entry
Two FIU Interior Architecture students Monica Fuentes and Adriana Lacruz each received the NEWH South Florida Chapter Scholarship for 2015. Fuentes and Lacruz were two out of five individuals who won the scholarship in the entire South Florida region.The NEWH South Florida Chapter Scholarship is... View full entry
Submit your outfit for the Eco Couture Recycling Fashion Show! Info: ecocouture@fiu.edu View full entry
Instructor Malik Benjamin was recently featured in an article by The New Tropic.The piece, written by Roshan Nebhrajani and entitled “Malik Benjamin’s secrets to a creative Miami,” can be accessed here.The header image is a screenshot from the article “Malik Benjamin’s secrets to a... View full entry
Instructor Malik Benjamin was recently featured in an article by The New Tropic.The piece, written by Roshan Nebhrajani and entitled “Malik Benjamin’s secrets to a creative Miami,” can be accessed here.The header image is a screenshot from the article “Malik Benjamin’s secrets to a... View full entry
The School of Architecture is composed of three closely aligned departments: Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Landscape Architecture. Jointly headed by the three department chairs, the School of Architecture provides a rich and diverse platform for interdisciplinary activities at the curricular and research levels.
